Monday 25 June 2012

Random Recipe: Grilled Mackerel with Pomelo Salad

Do you like fish? What about Grilled Mackerel with Pomelo Salad? Now it happens to be that mackarel is extremely high in vitamin B12 and omega-3 (the good fatty thing – remember?). So this good be, well, extremely healthy for you, and for me of course (oh, why is it then that I eat so little fish?).


The main reason, though, for having fish today is the BelleauKitchen’s bloggers challenge: ‘random recipes’. Well, the deadline is coming closer, and … I had some time to do shopping today.



How do we end up with fish then for today … exactly.
The first step was to randomly select a cookbook from my collection (no cheating). To verify (sort of) that I didn’t cheat, here is my special randomiser.


As you see here, the rolled number is 46. Now it happens to be, I have a list of all my cookbooks (you can even check it here).


This is the one: Supper with Rosie. It’s quite new in my collection. I only got it last month and you can have a guess where I got it, when you look at this old blog post. So far I have only tried to of the recipes and was satisfied. But then I didn’t choose these recipes randomly.
This month the theme of the challenge is “the middle”. Going to the middle of Supper with Rosie we get: Grilled Mackerel with Pomelo Salad (you have guessed this already – oh wait – no guessing necessary – I told you already). Well, it would have taken QUITE A WHILE before I would have chosen that recipe on purpose. I don’t work (eh … cook) so often with fish (but really should do more).
Let’s get to business then!

Oh no! Just a minor interruption – the neighbour’s dog is invading! Can happen sometimes …

… everything under control again!

This recipe involves some pomelo (obviously), beansprouts, limes, peanuts, spring onions, chilli (oh, great!!!), a few other things and … who would have guessed … of course, those ones here …

First the salad. Peeling the pomelo, and doing it right, is not the kind of business I would appreciate on a regular basis.
Before I forget, I had to do tiny little changes to the recipe, because I didn’t want to travel all over the place to get all the different ingredients (one shop has to be enough for today), but I promise, you won’t even notice, even if you check the recipe for yourself.
Fine, I mention a thing, I didn’t bother buying (although recommended by Rosie): fired shallots. I simply thought, I might fry them myself. What do I know, whether this tastes the same or similar. It was fine for me. By the way, they were for finishing up the salad as was some mint, which I grabbed from the garden.
All in all the recipe combines some light and fresh flavours with the heat of chilli all in an Asian kind of way (oh, fish sauce and soy sauce take part). Concerning the chilli, Rosie says: “This is brilliantly HOT.” However, if you exchange the red bird’s eye chillies with a slightly less hot version, you could make it.
The mackerels are brushed with the soy sauce and go under the grill. There is this function of my oven, but I guess, I haven’t made use of it, if I remember right. Therefore I wasn’t quite sure whether the fish would turn out right (after all I’m no fish expert either). BUT, no worries!


Everything worked out well! I devoured the dish with gusto. Well, I ate it in a civilized kind of way still. And … what shall I tell you … I might try it again. This was a good one.
You see! Sometimes you need a little extra help to do something good for you.

18 comments:

  1. oh wow... I adore mackerel... as far as i'm concerned you're very lucky to pick such a yummy looking recipe for your first random recipe!... I love your blog and your witty style... it's just perfect!... thank you so much for taking part, i hope you join in regularly with this fun challenge! (you need to get a really odd one to know you've arrived!!)

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    1. Thanks a lot! Some time ago I adopted a strange custom to buy cookbooks when I'm on holiday. So I got an Italian cookbook in ... Italian of course, although I speak next to none Italian. That would have been fun.
      I sure will come back for more, but next time there will be more time as well (that is, if I'm observant enough).

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  2. I must enter Random Recipes next month. I walked past Rosie Lovell's cafe in Brixton last year just to have a peak, but didn't get to eat there. My son has enjoyed a few cafe meals at her place. I think we should all eat more mackerel, it's good value too. Great looking plate of food.

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    1. I can only recommend to enter random recipes! When I went to Rosie's cafe I had only coffee and cake. I would have loved to have breakfast, but I was always well fed for breakfast before I had chance to get there.

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  3. Love mackerel and this sounds like a dish I would really enjoy......thanks!

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    1. You're welcome! It was lovely indeed. Why not have a go?

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  4. Wow, a mackerel dish! For me mackerels are one good source of protein and I think the other essential vitamin b12, Don't you think so? Any thoughts on this matter. How about vegetarians do they eat mackerels?

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  5. Hello Manaka! Yep, protein and vitamin b12 count them in (I don't have precise figures at hand, though). About the vegetarian I'm not so sure, maybe part time vegetarians ...

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  6. I love your randomiser! I'll have to get one myself - I use an online randomiser. Great recipe too - part of the fun of random recipes is trying out recipes you may not have picked yourself.

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    1. I found it in my dice collection, it's 100-sided one, I could have used two 10-sided ones as well.
      I'm looking already forward to what will happen with the next random recipe.

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  7. I came over from dom's round-up! Mackerel's one of my absolute favourite fishes too, I love it's rich strong flavour and of course it's packed with healthy oils. More people need to learn to cook with these underused fishes instead of always going for the (more expensive and less sustainable) salmon or cod! this looks yummy, good one!

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    1. Lovely it is you came by. Thank you! For many it is so difficult to go and try the "unknown", but a lot is to be missed.

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  8. Hi Chris. Lovely to see you in Random Recipes. I love mackerel.

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    1. I really liked it, going for a random recipe. So, really lucky, I got such and easy and delicious one! :-)

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  9. I have only had mackerel at my brother's home ... as he is the more adventurous with fish and the filleting process ... it's something I need to learn. I tend to go with the safe 'slabs' of fish that are preprared by the fishmonger ... silly me. The Asian twist on this plate is so intriguing to me! Welcome to Random Recipes!

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    1. Thank you! Good for me, that my fishmonger had this Mackarel ready for me. Bought all his supply for that day, though.

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  10. Amazing colours and sounds really healthy. I love mackerel....thanks for sharing the reicpe.
    Deb

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    1. Your very welcome! I enjoyed it as well!

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